Caesium alums chloride

Uses Of the Stassfurt salts.—The magnesium compounds in the Stassfurt salts are used for the preparation of magnesium and of its salts. The potash salts are an essential constituent of many fertilizers used in agriculture, etc. 22 and potassium chloride is the starting-point for the manufacture of the many different kinds of potassium salts used in commerce—carbonate, hydroxide, nitrate, chlorate, chromate, alum, ferrocyanide, cyanide, iodide, bromide, etc. Chlorine and bromine are extracted by electrolysis and other processes from the mother liquids obtained in the purification of the potash salts. Boric acid and borax are prepared from boracite. Caesium and rubidium are recovered from the crude carnallite and sylvite. 

Precipitate with aq. ammonia. Evaporate the soln. down to about 100 c.c., and filter the ot liquid so as to remove calcium sulphate. The cone. soln. is sat. with ammonium alum and allowed to stand for some time. The mixed crystals of potassium, rubidium, and oeesium alums and of lithium salt are dissolved in 100 c.c. of distilled water and recrystal-lized. The recrystallization is repeated until the crystals show no spectroscopic reaction for potassium or lithium. The yield naturally depends on the variety of lepidolite employed. 100. grms of an average sample gives about 10 grms. of crude crystals and about 3 grms. of the purified caesium and rubidium alums. For the purification of caesium and rubidium salts, see the chlorides. The mother-liquors are treated with an excess of barium carbonate, boiled, and filtered. The filtrate is acidified with hydrochloric acid, and evaporated to dryness. The residue is extracted with absolute alcohol in which lithium chloride is soluble, and the other alkali chlorides are sparingly soluble. 

Preparation.—The main source of rubidium compounds is the residual mother-liquor obtained in the extraction of potassium chloride from carnallite. The solution contains rubidium-carnallite, RbCl,MgCI2, a substance transformed by addition of aluminium sulphate into rubidium-alum, RbAl(S04)8,12H20. Separation from the potassium and caesium salts also present is effected by fractional crystallization of the alum,8 of the chloroplatinate 8 Rb2PtCl8, of rubidium-iron-alum,4 and of the double chloride with stannous chloride5 or with antimony trichloride.6... 

Preparation.—The isolation of caesium compounds is facilitated by the relatively low solubility of certain double salts, such as the alums, chloroplatinates, and double chlorides with antimony, tin, and lead.3 Its separation from rubidium depends on the solubility of its carbonate in alcohol, that of rubidium being only slightly soluble. 

Does Eka-caesium exist — Several considerations point to the possibility of the existence of an undiscovered alkali element, with atomic number 87 and an atomic weight of approximately 224. Diligent search in caesium materials has been made1 for this missing element by fractionation of the nitrate, di-chloriodide, chloride, perchlorate, sulfate, and alums. In every case careful examination of the extreme portions of the material failed to reveal any indication of a new element. If such an element exists, it must belong very definitely to the radioactive series and it may have such a short life period that its detection becomes very difficult. 

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